Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Jamie H]

Hmmmm, interesting. I think if I did it, I would rent about 30 minutes out and commute. You can get a nice 3-bedroom house for $2500-$3000 a month out in the burbs. That probably sounds ridiculous, but they would be paying me enough to make it work.

[geo weidl]

April fools! Should be an interesting night, but I think is well deserved. I loved the Bad Boy era.

The Detroit Pistons will retire Dennis Rodman?s #10 jersey during a halftime ceremony this Friday, April 1, 2011 when the Pistons host the Chicago Bulls at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

[lineygoblue]

An appropriate night, I guess.

Just kidding. Rodman deserves the honor of having his jersey retired. I just hope he shows up sober.

[WingsFan]

Or wearing a dress :-)

[lineygoblue]

He needs to save the dress for his wedding.

[*JD*]

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/112453/when-the-customer-is-wrong-restaurants

[entropy]

[Tony G]

I used that. good one Ent

[Jeff Buchanan]

.......... which makes me wonder why the little guys aren't pushing harder for a play-off.

[entropy]

btw.. Missouri just hired the men's basketball coach at Miami... a guy who was probably going to be fired.

Missouri isn't a bad job. $2M/year is good, decent fans and brand new facilities. So is the AD that bad, or is the Big12 structure that much of a cancer to potential coaches?

[entropy]

http://huskerextra.com/sports/footba...1340064cc.html

Sipple: Athletes deserve larger slice of revenue pie

Posted: Monday, April 4, 2011 11:30 pm

Things I know and think I know:

--The three-week NCAA men's basketball tournament is in the books, including the financial books, to a certain degree.

The increasingly overwrought tournament generates $771 million annually in TV rights alone, which sparks a natural discussion: Why not pay the players?

To which you might say: Based on recent reports, it seems many college athletes already are being paid, especially those who happen to play football in the Southeastern Conference, or frequent a certain tattoo parlor in Columbus, Ohio.

Yuck, yuck.

"I think it'd be a very slippery slope if we started making players employees (of universities)," Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne said Monday.

Yes, that would get complicated, with considerations such as workmen's compensation, retirement programs and taxes -- the type of issues that typically get glossed over in surface-level discussions.

However, the NCAA's new president last week told USA TODAY it's time for in-depth discussion about whether and how to spread a little more of the largesse to the athletes.

"The sooner, the better," said Mark Emmert, who plans to bring up the issue at the NCAA's board meetings this month.

Emmert and Osborne are likeminded on the topic. They make a lot of sense.

Osborne long has maintained the value of a scholarship should go above and beyond the current room, board, books, tuition and fees. He suggests an extra $2,500-$3,000 for expenses such as transportation, clothing and entertainment. Emmert has a similar view. The scholarship amount could be adjusted based on cost of living in a given area, Osborne said.

The deeper you delve into the discussion, the more complications arise. For example: Are we talking about scholarships in only revenue-generating sports or all sports?

"With Title IX, I think it would have to be across all sports," Osborne said.

Not necessarily. According to USA TODAY, there is sentiment to narrow any additional aid to football and men's basketball, the sports in which the competitive and financial stakes, pressures and rewards are highest. As Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith correctly pointed out, football and men's basketball players have different lives than say, field hockey players.

"They're under different pressures," Smith said.

Another issue to consider in the what-to-give-athletes discussion: In fiscal 2009, only 14 of the 120 FBS schools were operating their athletic programs in the black.

"So you're going to have a very hard time getting something past athletic directors and administrators because they're saying, well, we're already losing money. ... Why in the world would we do this?" Osborne said.

Which brings us back to those financial books. The NCAA men's basketball tournament last summer landed a 14-year, $10.8 billion contract with CBS and Turner Sports. Football's Bowl Championship Series is coming off the first season of a $125 million-a-year TV contract. Then there are the lucrative conference TV packages to consider, or tap.

"The question is, is there enough money to go around? I think there probably is," Osborne said. "We're certainly spending an awful lot on activities and programs within the NCAA that may not be as important as the student-athlete. If you did something like (using money to increase scholarship amounts), it would really resolve some of the complaints, which are legitimate, about student-athlete exploitation."

The what-to-give-players subject has been bubbling since the NCAA was formed in 1906. But the debate is picking up steam, thanks to the gobs of money being thrown around by everyone, from greedy Fiesta Bowl officials to SEC boosters allegedly giving out "money handshakes" to players.

Something's got to give, literally.

--Osborne said Nebraska rejected the Big Ten Network's recent overture to televise the April 16 Red-White Spring Game "probably because we think it would affect our attendance. And if you're doing a lot of different things offensively or defensively, you don't necessarily want to put it out there where somebody could make a copy of it and work on you over the summer."

Nebraska may need all the advantages it can muster offensively. Plus, Bo Pelini long has felt the Spring Game has enough distractions without TV being on hand.

--Is it just me, or did CBS continually gloss over the fact the NCAA recently levied serious sanctions against Connecticut and coach Jim Calhoun for repeated recruiting violations? NCAA men's basketball, in many ways, is a cesspool. Butler appears to be an example of cleanliness.

[Rob F]

To take this OT thread to a different subject...

(and for lack of a better place to post this)---Wow---the Women's NCAA Finals tonight is a helluva lot better entertainment, a lot better played game, than last night's Men's Finals.

With under 2 minutes to go in the game right now, Texas A&M leads the Irish women by just 2, A&M built a 13 point lead in the 1st half, ND stormed back with a 19-4 run to end the half up by 2, and it's been back-and-forth ever since. Great game!

[geo weidl]

Some people do the strangest things:

In a page from Ron Artest's book, Minnesota Timberwolves center Darko Milicic is planning to auction off his NBA championship ring he won with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. He's doing it for a worthy cause, it's to raise money and awareness for children dealing with the terminal illness Batten's disease

He got the idea from Ron Artest, who auctioned off his Lakers championship ring to raise money for mental health programs in schools.

Outside of the championship he won with Detroit and being known as one of the biggest draft busts in NBA history, this might be the most noteworthy thing he's done since being in the league.

I believe that his intentions are good, but why would he not just donate the money and receive the tax break.

[lineygoblue]

I believe that his intentions are good, but why would he not just donate the money and receive the tax break.

Even better, why doesn't he just donate the same amount of money he made with the Pistons during those years .. seeing that he did nothing to earn it.

[Mike]

And Joe Dumars should match it.